Junior defensive end Junior Onyeali celebrates after a play during a road game against UCLA last Nov. Onyeali will begin the season as a playing defensive end after playing last year as a linebacker. (Photo by Beth Easterbrook)The agile end is actually from Denver, Colo., so he is not in his home. But after a short stint as a linebacker, Onyeali is back playing defensive end for ASU.
And he is starting.
“Home sweet home, I love it,” Onyeali said. “I love to be home. It’s where I belong.”
At the start of fall practices, Onyeali was getting a good amount of reps at the linebacker position. He would also put his hand down when the Sun Devils ran a four-man front.
As some defensive linemen were banged up and the linebacker core was put in place, Onyeali started spending more time with the linemen.
Redshirt sophomore Carl Bradford is now a starting linebacker, but plays defensive lineman during the four-man front.
Onyeali explained why the coaches moved him back to end.
“They wanted both me and Carl to be playing a lot,” Onyeali said. “Carl was doing better at the double position so they moved me back to d-end.”
Bradford spends most of his time in practice with the linebackers. Sometimes during passing drills, Bradford will leave and join the defensive linemen to work on pass rush.
Bradford said making the adjustment from a linebacker to a lineman mid-game was not difficult.
“Last year I played d-end, so I still got that mindset as d-end so it’s not that hard for me to transition from linebacker to d-end,” Bradford said. “I just got to get in a different mode when that defense comes up, but it doesn’t bother me. I know how to switch gears.”
Onyeali shows at practice his speed in defensive line pass rush drills. He is undoubtedly one of the quickest ends coming off the ball. He gave credit to his conditioning for his improved speed this season.
Onyeali said after being suspended and sitting out on spring drills, he was grateful to play with the group of guys in the starting rotation this season.
Huge expectations for Goodman
When true freshman offensive tackle Evan Goodman returned from Camp Tontozona, he was met with a pleasant surprise. He still had a maroon jersey in his locker.
After Tontozona, players from several different positions were assigned to the scout team unit. Those players now wear a gold jersey in practice.
On the scout team, they would have to run the opposing team’s plays every day against the starters.
Goodman does not have to do it right away. With that incentive comes high expectations from the coaching staff.
“I came in here with high expectations so you’ve just got to fulfill them,” Goodman said. “You got to play with your ability and how they want you to play. They’re giving me a chance, (by) not putting me on scout team, to show what I can do and learn plays.”
Goodman is young and there are still older linemen ahead of him in the depth chart.
Regardless, Goodman hopes to make an immediate impact his freshman year, get on the field and go into his sophomore year with game time experience.
Injury report
Senior running back James Morrison and redshirt senior defensive end Toa Tuitea were wearing green “no-contact” jerseys during Monday’s practice.
However, coach Todd Graham said during the Monday press conference that junior wide receiver Kyle Middlebrooks and senior defensive tackle Corey Adams are the only players not expected to play Thursday due to injury.
Reach the reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
